1 1 1 Sometimes it's the simplest ingredients that make the most comforting of meals. Take pasta, cheese, milk, add a little flour, butter and turkey ham and voila, instant comfort in the form of macaroni gratin! Cheesy, stringy, meltingly warm comforting goodness... You could even throw in some vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, spinach) and I'm sure the little ones wouldn't complain. Who needs truffles and posh nosh when homemade goodness is so affordable? Recipe courtesy of Chef Eric Costille from Raffles Culinary Academy who also celebrated his birthday with us :) Happy Birthday Chef! This recipe feeds 20 hungry children. For the Sauce 60g butter salt 60g flour 1l milk pepper 3 eggs For the Macaroni Gratin 2 bags of rigatoni macaroni salt and pepper 12 slices of turkey ham 1 cup of mixed cheese (parmesan, cheddar and mozzarella) 1. In a very heavy-bottomed large saucepan with lots of room, melt the butter. Add a pinch of salt and the flour one spoon at a time, stirring well, never allowing the flour to brown. Switch to a whisk and slowly add half the milk while whisking constantly till the mixture is smooth, then add all the milk. 2. Bring to a simmer, turn the heat as low as possible, whisking occasionally, for 30 minutes. 3. In the meantime, boil some water, preheat the oven to 175 degrees celsius, slice the ham into thin strips and grate the cheese. Cook the macaroni until al dente, then drain in a colander. 4. Break 3 egg yolks into a seperate bowl, pour some sauce into this bowl and whisk until the eggs come to the temperature of the sauce without scrambling. then pour this into the sauce. Remove the sauce from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. 5. Butter the baking dish and put the macaroni in. Sprinkle with cheese and ham and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle extra cheese on top and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 6. Serve in ladlefuls on party plates with lots of careful blowing (it's hot!). Twirl cheese gleefully round the forks and slurp up the mozzarella strings. Yummy! 0 0 Singapore 2009-03-30T08:07:09Z 0 125 false 193 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 2010-03-11T19:46:17Z false 14 10